Due to the ever increasing demand by numerous businesses for efficient mail handling equipment, many systems have been developed in an attempt to automatically receive envelopes, slit the envelope open, and present the contents thereof in a manner which is most efficiently handled by an operator. Although these prior art systems have been reasonably efficient in receiving the envelopes and slitting the envelopes open, substantial difficulty has been encountered in separating the slit envelope and presenting the contents thereof reliably and repeatedly in a manner which is conveniently presented to an individual for ease of checking and processing, with a minimum of direct handling.
Although various prior art systems have been developed to meet the needs of industry, these prior art attempts have been unable to provide an envelope handling system which is capable of repeatedly and reliably separating the pre-slit envelopes and presenting the contents in a manner which is easily viewed by the operator for fast and efficient checking and processing. One typical prior art method is to blow air into the pre-slit envelope in an attempt to enable the operator to reach in and remove the contents therefrom. However, this system has proven to be extremely slow, as well as inefficient in opening the envelope sufficiently for consistent and repeatable access by the operator. In addition, viewability of the contents prior to removal is not provided.
Other prior art systems have employed a vacuum to draw the sides of the envelope away from each other while the contents of the envelope are to remain stationary until captured by a track or reached by the operator for removal. One type of these prior art vacuum systems employ vacuum ports which are positioned perpendicularly to the line of travel of the envelope in juxtaposed spaced facing relationship to each other. However, in use, it has been found that this prior art system is incapable of repeatedly, consistently, and reliably maintaining the contents in the desired orientation or properly opening the envelope. Furthermore, viewability of the contents without removal is not possible.
In addition, this type of prior art vacuum system has been found to be incapable of drawing only the sides of the envelope, without also adversely affecting the contents thereof. Consequently, both the contents and the envelope side are often drawn to the vacuum, causing the contents to be improperly positioned and requiring special attention by the operator. Furthermore, this type of prior art vacuum system is extremely noisy, in view of the high level of suction required to drawn the envelopes to the vacuum head.
One prior art system, which has been developed, has been particularly effective in providing an envelope handling system which separates the envelope sides repeatedly and efficiently, while presenting the contents thereof in a separate channel for ease of access by the operator. This system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,875. Although this prior art system has proven to be extremely efficient in its overall operation, neither this system nor any other prior art system has been able to effectively stagger or separate the contents of the envelope in a manner which enables the contents to be easily viewed by the operator, prior to the removal from the track.
One of the principal difficulties that has been encountered in using even this most efficient prior art system is the requirement that the operator physically remove the envelope contents from its transfer pathway for viewing before processing can begin. In most instances, the contents of the envelopes consists two sheets of paper, one being the statement and the other being the check. After removal of these items from the pathway, the operator must separate these two pieces of paper and then visually check the amount shown for the payment due as well as the amount of the payment being made to assure that the two amounts are equal. Then, the information is able to be processed.
If the contents of the envelope were separated from each other so that they can be independently used, the operator would be able to perform many processing steps without first handling the contents. Although the physical separation of the contents from each other is highly desirable, no prior art system has been developed which is capable of attaining this result.
Furthermore, it has also been found that some operators experience hand discomfort due to the repetitive nature of removing the contents from its transfer pathway and manually separating the contents from each other. These repetitive manual manipulations have caused some individuals to incur various episodes of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Therefore it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an automated envelope handling system which is capable of consistently separating a pre-slit envelope from the contents thereof, and repeatedly and reliably longitudinally staggering or separating the envelope contents to enable independent, simultaneous viewability of the two separate sheets of paper typically contained therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automated envelope handling system having the characteristic features described above, which is capable of operating at a substantially reduced decibel or noise level, thereby providing a system which is comfortable for the operators to use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automated envelope handling system having the characteristic features described above, which substantially eliminates mishandling of the envelope contents and enables the operator to simultaneously view both a statement and a check before any handling of the contents by the operator is required.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automated envelope handling system having the characteristic features described above which substantially reduces the manual operations being performed by an operator and substantially eliminates the likelihood of an operator developing carpal tunnel syndrome.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.